


Late

by MCUsic_to_my_ears



Series: ScienceBrosWeek2018 [7]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Bruce Banner Angst, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Canon Divergence - Iron Man 3, Father Figures, Grief/Mourning, Hurt Tony Stark, Insomnia, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, Kinda Iron Man 3 Compliant, M/M, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Panic, Parent Bruce Banner, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Bruce Banner, Science Bros Week, Science Bros Week 2018, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 04:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15477570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCUsic_to_my_ears/pseuds/MCUsic_to_my_ears
Summary: /“Say something,” he [Steve] begged.The doctor turned around slowly, breathing hard. “Pepper’s missing. Rhodey won’t answer his phone. Tony- Tony’s dead.” Bruce shook his head. “I can’t even see my own daughter, Steve. What do you want me to say?”/***The Mandarin's demise draws near, but Bruce has bigger fish to worry about. Namely, his daughter.





	Late

**Author's Note:**

> This is a complete canon divergence AU of Iron Man 3 wherein Bruce and Tony got married after the Avengers and adopted a sweet little girl.

“What?”

Bruce pursed his lips. 

“ _ What, _ Bruce?”

The doctor bounced their daughter in his arms. She sighed in her sleep. “James said you had a panic attack.”

They stood in the lab. The Iron Man suits surrounded them in their glass casing. Dum-E still had a dunce cap on from days before, refusing to take it off without permission, or perhaps forgetting it was there. A few scorch marks decorated the floor, juxtaposing the clean holographic lines by Tony’s desk. No place for a child. 

“Well, Rhodey’s a liar then, because I did no such thing.”

“Tones,” Bruce sighed, brushing Becca’s hair. “We talked about this.” He eyed Mark 42, the shell that had greeted him upstairs. 

“You know I don’t remember talking about this guy over here.” Tony gestured to the free suit, a subject change rapidly approaching. “If you want to look at the specs-” He reached for a tablet on the desk behind him.

“I’m going to bed.” It wasn’t even eleven yet, but Becca had already been asleep for three hours, waking in tears once, only a few minutes before Bruce went to check on his husband. 

Now, he wondered if it was worth it. He turned, taking smooth steps in an effort to keep their daughter asleep. 

“Hold on. Come on. Bruce.” Tony stood, the controls for the armor still wrapped around his head. “Hey, I admit it!” Tony threw his hands up in a sign of apology. “My fault. Sorry.”

Bruce stopped, halfway up the steps, cuddling their child close to his chest.

“I'm a piping hot mess,” Tony admitted, as if it were something new. “It's been going on for a while, I haven't said anything.”

Bruce turned around, eyes searching. Becca made soft noises in her sleep. 

“Nothing's been the same since New York,” the engineer said, his arms crossing over his chest protectively. 

“Oh really? Well, I didn't notice that, at all.” Bruce shook his head, a rush of images from the Other Guy being sent his way from his own struggle at coping. 

Tony pressed on, “You experience things and then they're over and you still can't explain them. Gods, aliens, other dimensions. I...I'm just a man in a can. You’re an exposed nerve. And she’s…” he sighed, stepping towards his husband, who began making his way down the stairs. “The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because you moved in. Which is great. I love you, I'm lucky. But, honey…” Tony felt his throat tighten at his upcoming admission. “I can't sleep. You go to bed, I come down here. I do what I know, I tinker.” He paused, trying to reel himself back in, leaning back against his desk. Bruce stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “But the threat is imminent, you know this, and I have to protect the two things that I can't live without. That's you.” He pointed lovingly to his family. “My suits, they're uh…”

“Machines,” Bruce supplied sadly. 

“They're protection. A safeguard,” Tony protested. 

“A distraction,” Bruce corrected, looking down at their daughter, their commitment.

“Maybe,” he allowed, head hanging. 

Bruce walked forward to his husband, eyes filled with loving concern. He lowered their daughter into Tony’s careful arms, before going behind the billionaire and removing his headgear so that he could better watch their child. 

“Let’s put her back to bed.”

Tony nodded. 

“I'm gonna take a shower.”

“Okay,” Tony agreed, standing, eyes still on their daughter. 

Bruce released his husband, running a hand along his arm as he walked back towards the exit. When he saw that Tony was still gazing down at their daughter, he added, “And you're gonna join me.”

Tony remarked, “Better” and surged forward to join him. 

***

Becca was wailing. 

She wasn’t the only one. 

“Tony!” Bruce exclaimed, shaking his shoulder. “Tones! It’s alright.”

Suddenly, Bruce felt cool metal on his arm and he was being pulled away from the engineer. He yelped, startling his husband awake. 

“Power down!” Tony shouted, jumping out of bed and across the floor. He swiped his hand in an arc in the air, inches from where the suit stood. The suit disassembled itself. 

Bruce stared at his husband, hands shaking. 

Lights came up in the room, courtesy of J.A.R.V.I.S.

“I’ll be right back,” he excused, shock still coursing through his blood. Nightmares were one thing, but this? This is why people didn't play with subdermal implants. 

He returned with their now quiet daughter in his arms. 

“I must have called it in my sleep,” Tony explained, sitting on the edge of their bed, trying to catch his breath. “That's not supposed to happen. I'll recalibrate the sensors,” he promised, glancing up with hopeful eyes. 

Bruce swept up a pair of gray sweatpants from the floor and slipped them on one-handed, Becca slowly falling back asleep, sucking peacefully on a yellow pacifier. He grabbed his phone and charger from the side table. “I’m going to stay at Nat’s tonight. I’ll see you.” Bruce closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll pick her up from Nat’s while you’re at work. Don’t worry,” Tony insisted, standing quickly, edging toward his husband. 

Bruce frowned. “You’ll have J.A.R.V.I.S. remind you?” he asked skeptically, huddling his daughter closer to his chest at Tony’s approach. This wasn’t their first rodeo. 

The engineer stopped short of touching them, hands dropping uselessly to his sides. “Sure. J?” He regarded the ceiling.

“Reminder set, sir,” the AI intoned. 

“See? I’ll get her,” Tony promised. “And I won’t even stop for ice cream first this time, alright?” he joked weakly.

“Three o’clock. After her afternoon nap. I’ll be home for dinner.” 

***

He was staring at the TV in Natasha’s living room, the news streaming along for an unreceptive audience. Becca still hadn’t woken up, despite the early morning light streaming through the kitchen windows behind the scientist. The same light would be slipping past the curtains into the guest room as well. The owner of the house watched Bruce from where she leaned forward on the island in her kitchen. 

“You know, I studied Stark before the whole ‘Avenger’s Initiative’ thing.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Wrote his file.”

“Yep.”

“Was the foremost expert on the guy.”

“Alright.”

“And yet I would have never guessed that he’d settle down. Get married.  _ Have a daughter _ .” The spy motioned toward the hallway, where just a few doors away, her niece was sleeping. 

“Sure.”

“Bruce?”

“Yeah?” He finally perked up, turning to face the red-head. 

“What I’m trying to say is, you are someone special to Tony. Someone important. You and Becca are his world, and he needs you. He needs you both.”

The doctor stood. “Nat.” He shook his head. “I know what you're saying,  _ why  _ you’re saying it, but Tony. He needs help that I can’t give him. And my daughter doesn’t deserve—” He gestured towards his head, light blue sleep shirt pulling up around his stomach. “—that.

“He threatened a terrorist, Nat." He jumped to his feet, anger pounding through him. "He gave him our address a day ago! He’s out of control.” 

“You shouldn’t…” The spy went quiet, staring at the screen in front of her. 

“Shouldn’t what? Nat?” Bruce turned. “Oh my God.” 

His home was in the ocean, flames devouring what was still standing.  _ Tony Stark Presumed Dead _ scrolled across the bottom of the screen. 

“Why-?” he lowered himself onto the couch, blinking hard. 

“Bruce…”

He ghosted out of the living room and into the guest bedroom; the spy followed. He stared down at his daughter, still sound asleep, oblivious to her father’s disappearance. 

“He’s going to be late picking her up,” Bruce mumbled. “I have to get ready.”

“You’re not going to work,” she ordered. 

Bruce stared at her. “What else am I going to do?”

***

Steve had never seen grief consume someone so quickly. 

The second he had heard the news of Tony’s passing, he’d flown to California, meeting at Natasha’s house. 

“I have his bag packed. You need to take him away from here. To a hotel or something. He can’t be around Rebecca right now.” This wasn’t the greeting the captain expected, but before he could speak, Natasha pressed on. “He’s not taking care of himself and I can’t watch after both him and Becca. Take Bruce to your hotel. Help him prepare the funeral.” The red-head shoved the bag into his arms. “Let’s go get him.” 

Bruce was sitting on the unmade guest bed, wrinkled blue T-shirt and sweatpants draping over his body, as if he had lost ten pounds in twenty-four hours. This had been going on for a while. 

“Hey, Bruce,” Natasha murmured, a complete attitude change. 

He continued to stare at his child. 

“Steve’s here. You’re going to stay with him for a few days.”

“Bec isn’t packed up.”

His voice was soft, his eyes wet. He didn’t look up. 

“She’s going to stay with me,” Natasha reminded, wrapping her hands around his wrists. 

Steve watched as Bruce wared with himself, before allowing himself to be pulled up to his feet. He walked towards his daughter. “You’ll see her tomorrow,” the spy promised. 

Bruce brushed Becca’s hair, before following Steve to his car. 

*** 

“Bruce, you need to eat,” Steve insisted, motioning to the plate of eggs that had just been placed in front of him by his server. 

The scientist didn’t react. 

Steve followed his gaze to a TV behind the soldier. The headline  _ S.H.I.E.L.D. Declines to Comment on Stark’s Death _ met him. The captain motioned their waitress back over. “Can you change the channel, please?” he asked, pointing to the TV Bruce was staring at.

She blinked, as if finally realizing who they were, before nodding and pulling the remote from the top of the TV and switching to the pregame coverage of a football game between Ohio and East Carolina. 

Bruce finally looked away. 

“Let me see my daughter,” he requested evenly. 

“Eat first.”

Bruce gave him a sour look, before stabbing his sausage with his fork. 

Once they both finished, Steve demonstratively called Natasha, eyes locked with Bruce’s. 

“Hey, Steve,” the assassin intoned. “I need you to put your game face on, is Bruce with you?”

He felt his posture stiffen, before immediately relaxing. His face went blank. His mouth was dry. 

“Yes.”

“Pepper Potts has been taken from S.H.I.E.L.D. protective custody. Becca is safe with me, but Bruce cannot know that Pepper’s in danger. He’s not in a good place, his mind will wander.”

Steve let out a laugh, “Sounds about right,” he responded. Bruce peered up with skeptical eyes.  

“That means I am not taking Becca to meet you too. And that means Bruce cannot come here until we are confident that neither is in danger.”

“Which will be?” Steve grinned. 

“Until the Mandarin is dead.”

***

“Nat’s not meeting us, is she?”

They were back in Steve’s hotel room, the TV turned off, a Scrabble board in front of them. Without putting any thought into it, Bruce had won the last three rounds. 

The captain fiddled with the  _ J _ block he’d just pulled out of the bag. “No. No, she isn’t,” he set down the piece next to his others. None of the letters connected into words. 

“Why not?” The doctor tried to hide his concern, but failed horribly, hands shaking as he set down his next word, ‘quixotic,’ using all his letters in one go. 

Steve shook his head. Natasha could try and keep Bruce in the dark all she wanted, she wasn’t the one living with him. She wasn’t the one lying about his loved ones. 

Bruce deserved more than that. 

“Pepper is missing,” he admitted. “And Natasha doesn’t want to compromise your or Rebecca’s safety, so you can’t see her until it’s safe.” 

Scrabble tiles went flying. 

A cheap desk chair snapped. 

A growl washed through the air. 

Steve was almost scared the Hulk would make an appearance, but he knew the doctor better than that. This was Bruce's rage. THe Hulk didn't have a family. 

“Bruce.”

The doctor slammed his hand against the door. 

“Say something,” he begged. 

The doctor turned around slowly, breathing hard. “Pepper’s missing. Rhodey won’t answer his phone. Tony- Tony’s dead.” Bruce shook his head. “I can’t even see my own daughter, Steve. What do you want me to say?”

***

“Hello, sweetie,” Bruce cooed. “Merry Christmas, my beautiful Becca Marie.”

The child giggled back through the camera, sitting in Natasha’s lap.

“Say ‘hi’ to Daddy, Bec,” the aunt encouraged, bouncing the toddler. 

Becca sucked on her red and green striped pacifier instead. 

“She’s still waking up from her nap,” Natasha explained. 

“Two nap day then,” Bruce murmured thoughtfully. 

Steve smiled off screen, watching a Hallmark movie about a bookstore and Christmas, glad to see his friend finally smiling for the first time since they’d reunited. 

“She was up all night,” the red-head sighed. “She misses you.”  _ And Tony, _ Bruce thought. “Hopefully this mess will be over with soon.”

“About that,” Steve interrupted. Bruce whipped his head over. 

_ Breaking News: President Recovered! Stark Alive! Potts Saved! _ flashed across the bottom of the screen. 

***

Bruce was the first into the hospital room, followed closely by Steve, who held the door, and Natasha, who held Becca. 

“I told you…” Tony coughed weakly, eyes glazing at the effort. “That I wouldn’t stop for ice cream.”

Natasha transferred the baby to the engineer's sore arms at his motioning. Bruce closed his eyes, holding his family close. “You’re still late,” he teased, release finally washing over him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta, Mxy


End file.
